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Scribblenauts Wiki:Manual of Style
Welcome to the Manual of Style! This Manual of Style outlines a standard of clean, consistent formatting for articles on the Scribblenauts Wiki. These guidelines will encompass how to create well-made pages for levels, objects, and adjectives, along with various other things. Article layout Articles on the Scribblenauts wiki are usually pretty simple. Most object and adjective pages consist of one infobox accompanied by information about the object, and possibly a trivia section. Level pages are a bit more complicated, but same concept: Infobox and level walkthrough. Starting your article The first and foremost important thing in an article is an infobox. You can very easily create an infobox by going to the right side of the editing page, scroll to the Templates section with the green puzzle pieces, and click "Add other templates". A list of templates and a search bar will show up. The 3 templates that are the most important are Infobox, AdjectiveInfobox, and Levelinfobox, each corresponding to Object, Adjective, and Level pages respectively. If possible, make the title the subject of the first sentence of the article. For example, write "Alan Diekfuss is one of the developers of 5th Cell." The first time the article mentions the title, put it in bold using three apostrophes — article title Object Infoboxes These are the most common infoboxes on the wiki, and are used for object pages. Once you create one, you must fill it with information. The easiest way is to hover over the puzzle piece and click "edit" (Visual mode only). A new window will pop up with many boxes to fill. Don't worry, there are only a few you need to focus on. These are Type, Behavior, and Synonyms. Type is what kind of object it is. These are things like Food, NPC, or Animal. It's fine to be broad. Normally, a Type coincides with a category. Next up is Behavior. Does the object kill everything near it? If so, fill the Behavior box with "Aggressive" If it's inanimate or has no interactions, leave the box blank. Synonyms are words that spawn the same objects. For example, Alan Diekfuss and Alan. If you find a word that spawns the exact same object, fill the box with word. Some objects even have multiple synonyms! If you can't find any synonyms, just leave the box blank. The Available In box automatically fills itself with all 4 Scribblenauts games, so only use it if the object only appears in certain games. Images Images make an article memorable and pretty. They can speak where words fail. At the same time, misplaced or untidy images can detract from an article. When choosing images, keep in mind placement, size, and the appropriateness of the image to the section. Let images flow with the text instead of break it up. Large images such as screenshots should use the "thumb" (example: ) option which displays large images as thumbnails. Images should generally be right aligned to enhance readability by allowing a smooth flow of text down the left margin - the "thumb" option does this by default. If an infobox is not being used in an article, a right aligned picture in the lead section is encouraged. For more information, see . Galleries When an article has many images, or can be improved by having more, and having inline images be detract from the readbility of an articles, the use of a section is encouraged. Image:Example.jpg|Caption Image:Example.jpg|Caption Tables Tables should use a "class" design when possible, and should include as little 'fancy' formatting as possible. Tables can also be made sortable by adding a "sortable" class. For long tables, it is recommended to create an "alt" class to alternate row colours to enhance readability. The below examples use "toccolours" as a class, but this is only for the purposes of demonstration, and isn't generally recommended. With row headings, table caption, sortable | |} Without row headings, with alt rows | |} Navigation boxes Navigation boxes can use or be based off . Generally they should be placed at the end of an article, above the categories. Expand with more details and examples. Article message boxes Add me! You may want to look at Wikipedia:Article message boxes. See also, references, external links, and navigational tables The last sections, if they exist, should always be "See also", followed by "References", followed by "External links". In the case of "See also", use bullets to list the internal links. Under the references section should be placed . Finally, in the external links should be all external links. Categories Categories should be added to the end of an article - a full list can be found on . They take the form Category:Categoryname. All articles should be accessible starting from Category:Browse, via subcategories. Disambiguation A disambiguation line is sometimes put at the beginning of an article to link to another article with the same or similar title. The line should be italicized and indented once. Most usually contain the phrase, "Were you looking for X?" For example: : Were you looking for "The Battle of Terrafield", an official novel? The template can also be used for this purpose. Quotations Format a long quote (over four lines) as an italicized block quotation, which will be indented from both margins. Do not enclose the block quote in quotation marks. To format a block quotation, do not use the wiki indentation mark ":" — instead, use the HTML element. Grammar Grammar is a writer's toolbox. You can't build good sentences without knowing how to use your tools. Since a wiki article must be as clear as possible for all the people reading it, editors must keep close to correct grammar standards to ensure clear communication. Capitalization Titles such as lord or king start with a capital letter when used as a title (followed by a name): "King Arthas", not "king Arthas". When used generically, they should be in lower case: "Furion is a powerful lord." The correct formal name of an office is treated as a proper noun. Hence: "Anduin is the current King of Stormwind." Classes should only be capitalized when used as a proper noun, i.e. as someone's name. ("Warlock, go be evil" versus "That warlock is quite evil.") Titles of works Italics are used for the titles of works, such as books and games. The titles of articles, chapters, and other short works are not italicized but are enclosed in double quotation marks. For example, italicize The Last Guardian and World of Warcraft, and use quotes for "Arathor and the Troll Wars". Writing : “I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs” -- Stephen King We now come to the meat of an article: the words themselves. When you're editing wikis, you're both academic and artist. You have to be accurate, but you also have to be interesting. Neither one can dominate; you have to skillfully balance both. Keep your writing concise. Don't use two words where one will do. Keeping your writing simple will make it easy to understand and easy to expand on. Use complete sentences whenever possible. When you write, use grammar as a toolbox: know the rules, but only break them on purpose. Check your spelling and grammar. Do not use 'u' in place of 'you' or '2' in place of 'to'. Write the way you would for a class paper or a newspaper article. Keep all of the topics you cover within the scope of the article. What that means is, you don't need to give a detailed history of humans on the page about Winston Churchill. Consider the article's title as your point of origin and write from that perspective. Make use of the wiki's ability to link to more detailed articles or external sources for more information. Write from an impersonal perspective.' Do not use "I." For example, do not write, "Hellscream was a fervent member of the Horde. He served both the Old and New Horde, As far as I know." Avoid drawing attention to the author (yourself) as much as possible. Be bold. If you know something is wrong, correct it. If you think you could word something better, write it. If an article has a glaring deficiency, fill it. Even if your first attempt isn't golden, you can fix it later or someone else will come along and fix it for you. Don't be afraid to screw up. Conclusion Every article can be improved (even this one). Following these guidelines will not ensure a perfect article the first time, but it will give the article a stronger skeleton. It's ultimately your job as an editor to put meat on it. See also * Project:Manual of Style/Sample - a sample wiki article. External links * Wikipedia's Manual of Style * ''UNSC Marine Corps'' on Halopedia * ''Development of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion'' on Wikipedia * ''Assassin's Creed'' on Assassin's Creed Wiki Category:Community